You scroll through your social media feed when you see a video: surprising, enticing, and eye-catching. The food is glistening—not from the fat or the oil reflecting light off the plate; it’s another gold leaf dish, served at a fancy restaurant, with vloggers ready to take a hefty golden bite.
We’ve seen gold on watches, rings, bags—every luxury item ever. Arts and crafts teens would bathe their projects with glitter to add some pizzazz. Gifts would even look fancier and expensive wrapped in gold foil. So when did eating gold become a phenomenon?
The Origins of Gold Leaf
Gold leaf and gilding have been done as early as the Bronze Age when hunters used to cover their weapons in gold. Gold was, then, used in art and architecture in multiple cultures around the world for different purposes.
The first instance of gilding food or beverage came back as far as the ancient Egyptian times about 5,000 years ago. Back then, the ancient Egyptians used gold in every aspect of their lives—religion, medicine, art, architecture, jewelry, and food. In Japan, China, and India, elixirs of gold made by court physicians were concocted as a form of medicine for arthritis and other bodily ailments like sore limbs. In medieval Europe, the rich would use gold leaf so much that they had to ration it in order to preserve the supply of gold into the kingdom.
Gold Leaf Today
Today, the gold leaf remains a status of wealth and luxury. Restaurants and chefs have taken it upon themselves to use gold leaf in their dishes and desserts. Even though the gold foil is odorless and flavorless, customers will pay the top bill to get a piece of that gold—and eat it too.
These chefs use edible gold leaf in a variety of ways. From topping chocolate bars to ice cream sundaes to covering whole pieces of fried chicken, the restaurant industry goes to great lengths to emphasize the luxury of their food with the use of the edible gold leaf.
Popular Gold Leaf Cuisine
Ice, Gold, Drink
Against common knowledge, happiness can be found at the bottom of a bottle—if that happiness is gold, that is. As early as the late 16th century, Europe has produced a liquor with tiny pieces of gold leaf floating in the bottles. As the practice was once considered medicinal, now the liquor is a status of wealth. Famous brands of liquor with gold include Goldschlager from Switzerland, Danziger Goldwasser from Poland, and Goldstrike from Amsterdam.
The Golden Opulence Sundae
In New York’s Serendipity 3’s, customers can order the Golden Opulence Sundae. It’s a concoction invented to celebrate the eatery’s 50th anniversary in 2005. This sundae is so opulent that it’s been lauded as the most expensive junk food by CNN Money.
Those who wanted to try the sundae needed to order it two days in advance since the ingredients were shipped from different parts of the world. The ingredients were vanilla ice cream with Madagascar vanilla, Venezuelan chocolate, and dessert caviar in sparkling gold. The dessert is covered in 23k gold leaf, decorated with gold almonds, and topped with a gilded sugar flower.
Gold-covered Chocolate
In a gourmet coffee and pastry shop called Leckerbaer in Scandinavia, chefs Gabi and Jacob Baer Mogensen shake up the Michelin Star scene with their takes on pastries and candies. One of their unique takes on sweets is a $9 pack of ten pieces of gold chocolate. The magic happens when the chocolate is dipped in what looks like a cocoa powder mixture and comes out as an edible gold nugget. Before this happens, there’s a lot of dipping–from the caramel center, the chocolate coating, to the famous gold finish.
World’s Most Expensive Fried Chicken
The gold-covered fried chicken wings in the Ainsworth in New York cost a whopping $1,000, and people are here for it. The 50-piece fried chicken wings are soaked in a lemon and bay leaf marinade for twelve hours. Before frying and baking to a crisp, it is covered in a garlic and paprika dredge. The finishing touch is a bath of butter, mixed with gold dust and honey buffalo sauce then topped with 23k gold dust, giving the chicken a deep lustrous shine.
No matter how you feel about it, edible gold leaf not only catches the eye with a glint of luxurious gold, but it also captures the imagination, pushing the boundaries of what we know about food and how we eat it. This fascination with gold elicits the experience of a billionaire living the dream. Will you have an edible gold leaf on your next treat?
Meta title: Would You Eat Gold? Because a Lot of People Have
Meta description: Gold has gone beyond jewelry, bags, and other luxury items, and it has taken over the food industry. For food enthusiasts with a thick wallet and adventurous chefs, gold leaf is packed with potential.